


Better

by OurLittleSecretOkay



Category: Moominvalley (Cartoon 2019), Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 15:17:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18759046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OurLittleSecretOkay/pseuds/OurLittleSecretOkay
Summary: Snufkin is a disaster and Moomin is exceptionally soft





	Better

“Are you hurt bad?” Surprising agile, Moomin stopped in his tracks, hopping across the wet rocks to return to his friend's side.

“I'm fine.” More embarrassed than anything, Snufkin pushed himself up, palms digging into the slate. He could already feel where the bruises would set in along his legs. Oh well. Unsteadily, he tried to step out of the hole his foot had gotten stuck in, only to realize it wouldn't come back out. He tugged at it again, wincing at the sharp pain as rock dug into his leg.

“Snufkin?” Moomin was worried, he could hear it in his friend’s voice.

“It's fine! I'm fine,” Snufkin forced a laugh as he painfully flexed his ankle, pulling his foot free. “See? No problem. Clumsy me.”

Instead of responding, Moomin just stared, eyes fixed on the rocks beneath them. Frowning, Snufkin looked down as well, surprised to see the puddle he was standing in grow first pink, then red.  

“You  _ are _ hurt!”

“It's probably fine.” He shifted his weight, testing it. The last thing he wanted was for Moomin to worry. 

“Come on!” Taking his paws, Moomin tiptoed around him carefully, heading him back to shore.

“I'm fine! Really!” He tried to protest, but all to no avail, Moomin too-quickly tucking his arm around him, taking all the pressure off his injured foot.

Still embarrassed, Snufkin let his friend help him to the shore, cracking jokes all the while so he'd know that he really was fine. When they finally reached the beach, Moomin hopped off the rocks first, holding a steadying hand out. Finding his facade of coolness slipping with each searing moment, Snufkin decided to let his friend to help him down the ground, getting a firm hold on his shoulder before stepping off. What he didn't expect was Moomin's other arm to swoop beneath him, lifting him up into the air. Shocked, it took Snufkin another moment to process how much more embarrassing things had just gotten for him. 

“You don't have to do that!” His tone was marred by a grating squeak as he fought the instinct to cover his face.

“And let you break your leg entirely? Besides, it’ll be faster this way.”

“Seriously. I'm fine!” 

“Don’t worry; if we see anyone, I'll let you pretend to walk on your own.”

“Moomin-” Waiting for the right excuse, Snufkin stared at the moomintroll’s firm grip beneath his knees, warm fingers curling up and around. With a new panic, Snufkin looked down at his injured foot. “But your fur!”

“What about my fur?”

“I'll stain it!”

Moomin giggled, as if this entire thing was funny. “You've never worried about me getting stains on my fur before. If I can manage grass stains, I can manage this.”

“I suppose I haven’t any pride to lose then,” groaning, Snufkin lowered his face into his hands, rubbing as if to wipe the blush from his cheeks. “You'll put me down if I get heavy, right?” 

Moomin looked down at Snufkin, confused. “Heavy?”

“Sure. It's not a short walk.”

Again, Moomin laughed as if he had said something funny. “Snufkin, you weigh about as much as a tomato casserole.”

“I do not!” 

“Half of your body weight comes from the feather in your hat!”

“Be serious, now! I don’t want you hurting yourself!”

“I am serious! I could lift you over my head and carry you like that if I wanted to.”

“You could not!”

“I most definitely could. Watch this,” pausing, Moomin hefted the injured Snufkin up much higher than he would have liked to be. Granted, it wasn’t nearly as high as Moomintroll had boasted, but that didn’t seem to matter at this time.

“Alright! You’re right, now let me down!” 

Smugly, Moomin smiled, the shape fitting nicely on his face. Sighing as if greatly inconvenienced, Snufkin looked away as Moomin shifted his weight to carry him close to his chest again. Flustered, Snufkin considered not for the first time that Moomin was  _ rather _ strong. Not that Snufkin wasn’t. Just… Nonchalantly, he rested his paws together on Moomin's far shoulder, stroking the thick fur lightly. It was always funny, how many contradictions the moomintroll managed to fit inside him. Not that softness and strength couldn't coexist, it was just occasionally amusing to see the ways they chose to do so.

In Moomin's case, he was all love and adoration, and that made him strong. That and his incredible ability to do things like swim faster, hike longer, and apparently, carry Snufkin up a hill. Snufkin resisted the urge to fidget, feeling very self-conscious indeed. He wasn't weak by any measure, but when it came down to it, he was only really strong enough to do what he had to. What if it had been Moomin who'd been hurt? He felt a pang of guilt at his hypothetical shortcomings. Moomin readjusted his grip.

“You know, you could just throw me over your shoulder if that would be easier.” If he could do it without being noticed, he would have crossed his fingers. Truthfully, he had become somewhat spoiled in the last few minutes, flushed with the knowledge of what it felt like to be cradled against Moomin.  _ His friend,  _ he reminded himself. 

“I don't think it would be easier,” Moomin replied after giving it some thought. “I'd be too worried about you slipping.”

“You worry far too much.” 

“It’s nice to have something so good to worry about.”

“What, a scraped leg?” Snufkin tried to laugh casually, hoped he sounded like a mumrik who wasn't choking.

“You’re silly.” Again, Moomin chuckled and Snufkin was faced with the sudden notion that if he had known this would be the result of an injured foot, he would have thrown himself off a ledge a lot sooner.

“Why don't we take a rest?” Suddenly feeling as if all the heat of the sun resided inside him, Snufkin was desperate to be let down.

“Oh, sure. Are you hurting worse?” 

“Just the same, it’s all the same!” 

Stopping by a large rock, Moomin leaned forward to put him down just as Snufkin began scrambling from his grip, resulting in them bonking foreheads. 

“Oof!” Grabbing his nose with both paws, Snufkin squinted his eyes shut.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Moomin rubbed his forehead, reaching out to Snufkin with his free paw. “Are you alright?”

“Totally fine! My own fault.” Casually, he leaned back, forcing himself to stop touching his throbbing nose.

“Are you sure?” Ever concerned, Moomin leaned in close to inspect him, obviously still feeling guilty. At that moment, Snufkin decided Moominvalley must have been named after the moomins instead of the other way around. Moomintroll’s eyes were so blue, there was no way their piece of sky wasn’t named after them. 

“Yes. Completely fine.” Still leaning back, Snufkin balled his paws into fists. Apparently his common sense was stored in his foot, because he seemed to have lost quite a bit of it along the way.  _ Your friend,  _ he reminded himself.  _ Don’t get carried away. Later on when you’re alone in your tent, you’ll be grateful you kept your cool. Just like always.  _

Instinctually, he leaned into the soft paw touching his cheek, nearly purring as Moomin held his face, tilting it first this way then that, inspecting him.

“You’re certain you’re fine?” 

“Absolutely-” His words were cut off by an unappealing yell as he tumbled backwards. So desperate to avoid his thoughts, he’d quite forgotten he ought to be balancing. 

This was it. His final resting place. After such an embarrassing fiasco, he figured it was only right he remained where he lay on the ground, let himself continue to wither away. Moomin appeared above him, his eyes mockingly matching the sky’s backdrop, just as Snufkin had thought.

“Snufkin!” Panicked, Moomin stared down at his friend. “Are you hurt?”

Snufkin didn’t reply right away, thinking it over. “Yes,” he finally answered, making no move to get up.

“Is it your back? Should I go get help?”

“My pride has been shattered. Unfortunately, I think I shall survive.”

Expression still, Moomin stared down at him, and then, slowly, broke out into more giggles, covering his mouth with his paws.

“Is my misery fun to you?” Despite the smile cracking across his face, Snufkin fought to keep his tone solemn. 

“I’m sorry, it’s just- You’ve had such a bad day, haven’t you?”

As Moomin continued laughing, Snufkin was eventually forced to break his feigned severity, chuckling at the sight of his friend’s amusement. 

“Oh, I’m sorry you’ve hurt yourself, but it’s-”

“No, no, not at all. I’m not hurt bad and it really is funny.”

“Two injuries is doable, but three? Are you trying to discover a new bone by breaking it?”

“With my luck I’ll just break all the ones we already know about.”

“Oh, don’t jinx it! Here, I’ll kiss one better and you can go back to two.” Still giggling, Moomin knelt on the ground beside him.

“Oh, yes?” The racing of his heart cocked the corner of his smile up just a bit too far to seem disingenuous. 

“I’ll even let you pick. Which one’s worst?”

“I’ve got to say, my foot’s not looking too good,” tilting his head down, Snufkin stared at his scraped leg, “but if I had to pick, I’d say my nose is by far the worst injury of the day.”

It was a joke, at least somewhat, but before he had time to realize what was happening, Moomintroll was leaning down, gently pressing his snout to Snufkin’s nose. For a moment they were both still, then, ever so gently, Moomin nuzzled him.

Snufkin loved many things. He loved nature. He loved freedom. He loved the ocean. As Moomin carefully pulled back, Snufkin realized that none of it even came close to the way his heart was trying to thud its way out of his chest right now. He wasn’t always good with knowing what to say, mostly he just got lucky, but given time and paper enough he could write entire novels on the way Moomintroll must be some sort of magic born out of the sea, all ocean foam and crystal blue and depth and longing and-

“Oh my, are you alright?” Moomin’s eyebrows cinched together. “Snufkin, your face is more red than I’ve ever seen it!” Worried, Moomin pressed a paw to Snufkin’s forehead. 

With a gasp, he took in a breath of air for the first time since… When did he stop breathing?

“My nose still hurts.” He was certainly flushed enough to be purple by now. 

Pausing in his efforts to locate Snufkin’s fever, Moomin glanced down. “Oh?”

“Yes. Right here.” Snufkin pointed to his lips. “Hurts awful.”

“Well, I… Guess I really ought to try to kiss it better again. Since it was my head that did it and all.”

“Sounds reasonable.” Carding his fingers into the fur along Moomin's neck, Snufkin pulled him down towards himself once more, this time pressing his lips to to the front of Moomin’s snout. 

Just like before, Moomin’s soft fur bristled, downy and lovely on Snufkin’s lips. Not entirely certain how he ought to do this, Snufkin decided on mimicking Moomin’s movements, burrowing his nose into the thick fur.

“Ow,” his voice was pitched by his blocked nose.

“Sorry! Did I hurt you?” Moomin sat up again, distraught.

“No! No, I only forgot my nose was hurt for real.” As soon as he said it, Snufkin felt the grief of embarrassment wash over him again. But Moomin only chuckled, pulling him up to a sitting position by his paws. 

“Maybe we should try again later. When you’re less bruised.” 

“Perhaps you’re right.” Staring down at his foot, Snufkin decided he would sooner damn himself than squander such opportunity. “Or perhaps it just needs more kisses.”

“Snufkin.”

“It’s a possibility.” 

Taking Snufkin’s face between his paws again, Moomin placed a single, tender kiss against his forehead. Closing his eyes, Snufkin made an effort to memorize every part of this moment, certain it was one he would want to relive again and again. 

“You still need that cleaned, so we ought to go.” 

Reluctantly allowing himself to be pulled to his feet, Snufkin only fought half as much as Moomin scooped him up in his arms again, ready to carry him the remainder of the way. Still busy glowing with the success of kissing his friend, Snufkin pretended that it was quite by accident his head rested against Moomin’s chin, although it did seem to fit rather perfectly. 


End file.
